The general objective of ECOGARDENS project is to reinforce the active role of community gardens in cities’ adaptation strategies to climate change and turn this spaces into informal environmental education centers that actively involve neighborhoods and communities in these strategies.
Project specific objectives are:
- Develop a set of training materials on how to turn community gardens into environmental education centers related to climate change;
- Promote the use of community gardens as learning centers for adults that offer environmental education, providing market gardeners and garden managers with the relevant content, the didactic methodologies to impart them and the appropriate strategies to actively involve the neighborhood,
- Strengthen the active role of citizens in the local strategy for mitigation and adaptation to climate change;
- Continue disseminating and raising awareness of the role of urban/community gardening in the fight against climate change.
In relation to the priorities of the Erasmus+ programme, our objectives are the following:
- Provide inclusive environmental education and training materials focused on behavioral changes related to climate change mitigation and adaptation, such as saving resources, reducing energy use and waste, reducing emissions of carbon and sustainable food choices.
These behavioral changes will be transmitted by the garden managers in the context of a community garden, thus promoting direct contact with environmentally sustainable practices and with the green areas of the city.
- Directly involve neighbors through learning activities carried out in community gardens, making them an active part of the community strategy to combat climate change in their urban area and promoting civic engagement through learning activities both formal and informal.
- Strengthen the role of community gardens as environmental learning centers through which adults of all ages will be motivated and trained to learn the skills and competencies necessary to contribute to climate change mitigation.
- Promote the role of community gardens as urban green infrastructure managed in a participatory manner by people.